Feature: 5 Cool Computer-Controlled Gadgets

Your computer might be loaded with USB drives, external HDDs, and more, but can it control an LED lamp or a robot face?

Computer Controlled LED Lamp

The “headLamp” consists of “about 300 leds soldered into a metal colander (like you use for straining noodles)” and are “wired to a circuit and controlled by the [computer’s] parallel port”.

The iTunes plugin is written to accept sample data from iTunes when a song is playing, which takes the form of an integer between 0 and 128. The plugin operates under the assumption that a rhythmic beat is likely to send a higher value, around 120. If a sample value over 120 is sent, the plugin changes the lamp’s state based on preprogramed patterns like rotations, buildups, etc.

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Robot Face

Put simply, this computer-controlled robot face is one of the coolest projects we’ve ever seen.

The iRX board is a small kit that provides everything needed to use a PIC microprocessor. It includes an RS-232 serial port, an oscillator needed to run the PIC, a status LED, IR LED and receptor, and a voltage regulator so that any standard 9V battery (or equivalent power supply) can be used to power the PIC. The iRX board also has a small prototyping area for additional circuitry if desired. For this project, the iRX board ended up being exactly want we needed to connect the computer to the head

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Paintball Gun

Created by “Bogeycade007”, this impressive “tank”-inspired, computer-controlled paintball gun is capable of firing multiple rounds in rapid succession .

Wireless controlled tank paintball gun. All electronics were made from scratch except the wireless receiver and transmitter

R/C Car

Nasa Tjan and Ellias Ismail partnered to create this software-driven remote controlled car, “during the final year of his [Nasa Tjan] computer science degree at the Malaysia Campus of the University of Nottingham”.